IronPigs' rally comes up short in 6-4 loss to PawSox

Tom Housenick, Of The Morning Call

Highlights: Bryce Brentz singled and Brandon Snyder homered to right field for Pawtucket in the bottom of the second inning. … Garin Cecchini walked and scored on Dan Butler's double to left-center field in the bottom of the fourth. Mike McCoy followed with an RBI-single to score Butler. … Sean O'Sullivan allowed four runs (all earned) and five hits in four innings for Lehigh Valley. He walked two, struck out four and threw 74 pitches, 45 for strikes. … Brentz and Snyder walked with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. Cecchini then singled in Brentz for a 5-0 PawSox lead against IronPigs reliever Mike Nesseth. … Rubby De La Rosa allowed just two hits in five shutout innings for Pawtucket. He struck out five and threw 70 pitches, 43 for strikes. … Alex Hassan's first hit of the season, a double to right-center, scored Brock Holt from first for a 6-0 Pawtucket cushion. Holt reached on a two-out error by Lehigh Valley first baseman Reid Brignac. … Koyie Hill, who didn't play in the first two games, had a two-run double in the top of the seventh for the IronPigs, who hadn't scored in 11 consecutive innings. Jim Murphy and Brignac, both of whom walked, scored on Hill's hit to chase PawSox reliever Chris Resop. Hill scored when Tyler Henson's hot shot to short against PawSox reliever Drake Britton was thrown away. Andres Blanco's fielder's choice to short allowed Steve Susdorf to score to make it 6-4. …Britton escaped the 8th despite facing runners on first and third and no outs. He got a fielder's choice and a double-play grounder. … Phillippe Aumont worked a scoreless seventh inning, despite allowing consecutive singles to start, for Lehigh Valley. … Shawn Camp allowed a single and had one strikeout in a scoreless eighth inning, his first appearance of the season for the Pigs. … De La Rosa is the winner. O'Sullivan is the loser. Brayan Villareal gets the save after working the ninth inning, his first appearance of the season. He struck out one and walked one.

Notable: Brentz's fifth-inning walk ended Nesseth's streak of retiring 22 consecutive batters dating back to last season. Cecchini's RBI-single ended Nesseth's streak of 7 2/3 scoreless innings. … De La Rosa allowed nine earned runs in two short stints last season against the IronPigs. He topped off at 97 miles per hour in Saturday's outing. … Maikel Franco singled in his first at-bat of the season, then was retired in his next 10 official at-bats before his 8th-inning double Saturday to right-center field. He later was nailed on a fielder's choice between third and home. … IronPigs Murphy, Brignac and Blanco reached base twice. Cecchini reached all four times for the PawSox. … Ryan Lavarnway, Pawtucket's cleanup hitter, is 0-for-11 with two walks.